Bab 15: Chapter 15 Shiitake Mushrooms and Chicken Soup Noodle.

With the bamboo strainer in his hand, the chef thoroughly tossed out the excess water from the noodles. Then, the chef separated the noodles into two separate bowls before opening the lid of a huge clay pot. With the lid of the huge clay pot being opened, a rich aroma of the shiitake mushroom and chicken soup burst out into the air and spread fast.

"Ah... What an aroma..." Holly murmured as she was overwhelmed by the mouthwatering aroma of the soup.

The chef then scooped out two portions of soup into a smaller clay pot that was on another stove, he lit up the stove and let the soup boil for a bit before tossing in a handful of goji berries and moving the clay pot away from the stove after a few seconds.

"Hmm? I wonder if the goji berries are for garnishing..." Holly murmured as she somewhat turned her face away fearing to make another eye contact with the chef.

"No, the goji berries aren't just for garnishing, the goji berries enhance the taste of the soup by giving it a nice subtle sweetness." said the chef who suddenly approached the two ladies with a food tray in his hands.

"Ah... I am sorry, I was just... Curious... Yes." said Holly who hastily tried to explain herself.

"It's alright, you are not the first person who wondered about that. Enjoy your meal." said the chef with a polite smile as he served the two bowls of soup noodles to the two ladies.

"Ah..."

As soon as the chef walked away, Holly's face turned all red, Rei glanced at her and giggled a bit before switching her attention to the soup noodle which was just served to her.

Rei stared at that bowl of steaming hot soup noodles in anticipation, the nice appetising aroma of the shiitake mushroom and chicken soup had been 'alluring' her even before the chef started preparing the soup on the stove.

In the small delicate looking clay pot, there are noodles soaked in nice light brown broth, two nicely carved shiitake mushrooms, a chicken drumstick, a slice of ginger and of course, the red succulent goji berries that nicely puffed up after absorbing the hot broth.

"Wow... These noodles look nice..." Holly exclaimed in awe as she finally took a good look at her soup noodle.

"Mhmm..."

Nodding without even looking at Holly, Rei scooped a spoonful of the broth and gave it a try. As soon as the broth entered her mouth, Rei was immediately overwhelmed by the wonderfulness and the wholesomeness of the broth.

In her mouth, is the heartwarming aroma of the combination of shiitake mushrooms, garlic and chicken which is followed by a pleasant heatiness from ginger and black pepper along with a well-balanced saltiness that is enhanced by a subtle sweetness from the goji berries.

"Oh my! Is this really just a noodle broth from a small noodle stall?" Holly exclaimed in excitement as Rei was trying to enjoy her noodle broth.

Rei glanced at Holly for a while without saying anything before switching her attention back to her noodle. Yes, noodle, what kind of psychopath would omit the noodles when eating noodles? Without any delay, Rei grabbed the chopsticks from the side of the bowl and picked up a few strains of the noodles from the bowl. Then, she politely slurped the noodles without making too much noise while covering her face with her free hand.

**Unlike Japan, it is considered impolite in Chinese culture for a person to make loud noises when eating, including slurping noodles.

"Wow..."

Amazed by the texture of the noodles in her mouth, Rei slightly lost her composure and forgot her dining etiquette for about a second. As expected from hand-pulled noodles, it is firm and chewy but at the same time it is not mealy or too dry or too tough to bite, the noodle has a nice chewiness that gives a slight bounce when bitten into it, but unlike rice cakes or mochi, it doesn't have that stickiness or jiggliness that might be unpleasant to some people.

As for the taste, the noodles are perfectly covered in the nice heavenly broth which tastes even better with the wheaty fragrance of the noodles...

"Aaaahhhhh!!!"

"No! Don't you dare to touch her... Argggh!"

A loud commotion that suddenly rose from the busy street immediately dragged Rei out from her overwhelming enjoyment of her shiitake mushrooms and chicken soup noodles.

"Come with me! You little slut! Don't you feel that you have been bringing enough shame to your father?"

"Let go of her! She said you don't know any of you!"

Hearing these conversations, the two ladies turned their heads to the direction of the commotion and to their surprise, there is a young boy and a teenage girl that are cornered by a group of muscular adult men.

"This sort of thing happens quite often, it's better to just leave them alone if you don't want to get yourself in trouble." said the young waiter as he refilled the soy milk for the two ladies.

Despite that's what he said the two ladies can clearly see a fire of anger from his eyes.

"Xiao Ming, get the ladies and their table to a safer area, I don't want my customers to have an unpleasant experience for their first meal here." said the chef.

"Yes, Chef... Hmm? Ladies?" The young waiter murmured in confusion as he gently pulled Rei away from the table to a safer area

However, before the young waiter, Xiao Ming could move the table away, something unexpected happened. The young boy who was protecting the teenage girl was kicked by one of the muscular men, due to his small and light body, the young boy 'flew' for a few meters and was crushed to the table before anyone could react.

Enraged by the sight, Xiao Ming was about to step into this matter but before he could do that, Holly stood up and grabbed her sword from the ground before calmly walking to the direction of the muscular men, an intense murderous aura could be sensed from her eyes as she casually unsheathed her sword...